


The Grim Reaper

by DisguisedasInnocent



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 05:42:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7254772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DisguisedasInnocent/pseuds/DisguisedasInnocent
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Grounders know little of the stories of the old world for the stories have little connection to the new world, but the term Reaper remains prevalent, and the Grim Reaper is the worst of all.</p><p>The Grim Reaper is the Commander of Death, and now she walks in the shadow of the Mountain.</p><p>
  <em>~The tale of how Lexa learned of Clarke's fate.~</em>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Grim Reaper

The thick wooden doors of the Commander’s throne room opened with a quiet groan and the thump of a drum beat. A small dark haired figure paced through the opening into the room, their footsteps measured against the beat of the drum, and paced toward the front of the room. At the top of the dais the figure stopped and spun on their heels to face the crowd of warriors and Generals gathered in the room. 

“Hail!” The figure called out, their voice booming through the empty expanse of the room, echoing in off the walls to reverberate through the air. “Warriors of the Twelve Clans,” the figure cast their eyes out over the crowd, “I welcome you to my halls.”

“Hail Commander of the Blood!” The Warriors replied in unison before they each dipped their head into a respectful nod.

The Commander dipped her own head in reciprocation of her warriors’ respect before she eased herself down onto her throne. “Beja, Gonas, be seated.” The Commander waved her hands to the chairs laid out in a horseshoe in front of her throne. “We have much to discuss. Marko, I believe it would be wise if you started this meeting.”

“Sha Heda.” The man answered with a small smile. “I have little news of importance to report from the Plains ai Heda. The Trikru have provided able Gonas to ensure the protection of my Father’s horses, and the birthing season has passed without the loss of any of our mares. My Father believes that one of the stallions born two springs passed has great potential and wishes to gift him to you at the time of his next visit.”

“I will have my stables ensure there is room for a stallion from the Plain Riders herds.” Lexa replied graciously as she let a small smile flash across her face. The dark haired woman flicked her eyes sideways to Titus, her Flamekeeper, to ensure he would pass on her instructions. “And please, send my thanks to your Father Markos.” 

“It would be my honour Heda.” Markos said with a nonchalant wave of his hand. “My Father sees that you have done much for our people Heda, and wishes to repay some of your burden. It is our honour to provide you, and your Gonakru, with steeds.” 

“It is my honour to accept them.” Lexa replied, letting her eyes settle on Markos’s face for a short moment, before turning her attention to the General sat at his side. “Indra, I believe your report is the only other one I am waiting on.” 

“Sha Heda, it is.” Indra confirmed as she lifted her eyes to meet her Commander’s face. “Tondisi is beginning to rise from the rumble once more Heda.”

A sigh slipped out of Lexa’s mouth and the dark haired woman settled back into her throne. “I am pleased to hear that Indra.” She responded as she crossed one knee over the other to settle comfortably into her throne. “But, what of the Sky People?”

“As per your orders, Heda, I made contact with their Chancellor—Abigail Griffin—and her Second to offer them the Commander’s Protection.” The dark skinned woman replied and while her voice remained calm and level her lips twisted into a pursed frown. “I had expected that they would be warier to greet me than they were Heda, but they seemed… grateful.”

“Sha, I expect that they were.” Lexa muttered while a frown of her own stretching the corners of her lips into a downward curve. “The Skaikru are but children in this world Indra, and worse, they are children that sent their own children to the ‘Ground’ to die, and they finally realise that.” 

“I do not…” Indra paused and swallowed the remainder of her sentence as she worked to order her thoughts.

“Heda,” Lenne, a General from the Delphi Clan, cut into the conversation. “I do not understand; why did they send children?”

“In truth it is simple,” Lexa began letting her gaze slip away from Indra to meet Lenne’s confused gaze, “the Skaikru were dying in the sky, and they needed the children to learn whether the ‘Ground’ was survivable for them.” 

“How could they not know?” Lenne queried as she furrowed her eyebrows.

“The Skaikru lived in a realm called The Ark,” Lexa said to begin her explanation, “Klark kom Skaikru told me of it when we made plans to attack the Mountain together. The Ark was like a boat in the middle of a wide ocean, and the Skaikru were the sailors. But, they could not see the shore, and year by year, month by month, day by day their boat was taking on water. They needed to escape it, but they did not have the means to take everyone from the boat at once. In the end, they sent a small party out in the direction that their ancestors told them the shore had been, to see if it was still there and whether it could support them.” 

“The children?” Lenne murmured with a purse of her lips. “I still do not understand why they sent children Heda.” 

“That is because all our children are precious to us.” Lexa replied, her voice calm and gentle, ringing out through the expanse of the throne room. “However, the children the Skaikru sent were the same to them as our stains are to us.” 

Indra huffed in her chair as she crossed her arms over her chest. “There was nothing stained about Okteivia.”

“The Skaikru on the Ark lived by different laws to the Trikru Indra.” Lexa reminded her General with a firm look. “Okteivia is able bodied and fierce, and would be a valued member of any clan of the Coalition, but to the Ark, she was merely a criminal offence. Okteivia was stained by her own existence. Klark told me that each and every one of the Skaikru children sent in the dropship was a criminal by the laws of the Ark, including Klark herself. That is why they were sent, because if they died they would at least at provided something for the Ark with their deaths.”

“That is…” Lenne swallowed hard and shook her head. “I cannot think that we would send our children to die.”

“Perhaps,” Lexa allowed with a dismissive wave of her hand ignoring the heat of Titus’s eyes on the side of her head and her own burning memories—Nightbloods one and all, bowed lifeless at her feet. “But we would send our criminals, our stained, in the place of our people.” 

“Sha,” Indra clenched her jaw angrily but nodded her head in agreement, “we would Heda.”

“We have digressed Indra, have you more news to tell me of the Tondisi region?” Lexa said turning the conversation away from the Skaikru back toward clan matters.

“Sha Heda.” Indra murmured before drawing in a deep breath. “When I returned from Arkadia—as the Skaikru now call their settlement—my scouts reported a worrying development to me Heda… The presence of a new Ripa in the shadow of the Mountain, one they called the Grim Reaper.” 

“The Grim Ripa?” One of Lexa’s fine eyebrows rose in barely controlled alarm. “I trust you investigated the matter Indra.”

“I did Heda, swiftly.” Indra reported. “This Ripa is not of the Mountain, nor are they from the clans, but they now walk in the shadows like a spirit would and stray away from men and beast alike.” 

Lexa narrowed her eyes at Indra’s careful choice of descriptors and edged forward on her throne to peer down into the older woman’s eyes. “Speak true Indra,” The Commander ordered, “I do not have the patience for your games today.”

“Sha Heda, I apologise.” Indra said in a quick rush. “I did not wish to report this to you if I was not sure Heda, but I scouted it myself the day before joining you here in Polis. The Ripa is… a member of the Skaikru.”

“Who?” Lexa growled. “Who walks my lands freely?”

“The one who felled the Mountain Heda.” Indra said as she lifted her eyes to meet her Commander’s gaze. Indra’s eyes shone with sincerity and sadness in equal measure as they focused on Lexa’s bright emerald green orbs. “The Villagers now call the Ripa Wanheda, for surely the one that felled the Mountain is the Commander of Death, and she walks in the step of the spirits.” 

“Klark…” The name slipped out of Lexa’s mouth unbidden and broken. “So, this is what my actions have made her into?”  
The Commander could see Clarke’s face clearly in her mind—dirt smeared across the woman’s strong jaw, a bloody scab cracking on her eyebrow, and the sheen of tears rising in her bright, bright, blue eyes. Lexa’s heart shuddered hard, clenching in her chest, at the memory of Clarke’s broken pleading tone as she turned away from the woman and stalked out of the Mountain’s shadow. The dark haired woman swallowed the aching pain back down her throat and shook her head to rid her eyes of the tears that threatened to form at the memory. She did not deserve to be broken by her own betrayal.

“Heda?” Indra queried with a furrowed brow.

“It does not matter Indra.” Lexa waved off her General’s concern as she straightened her spine to sit tall in her throne once more. “Is Klark kom Skaikru a threat to the people of Tondisi Indra?”

“No.” Indra shook her head. “She strays away from any human contact. Not even I have been able to track and approach her Heda.” 

“Then,” Lexa sighed softly, “as long as she is no threat then leave her be. Klark kom Skaikru is a hero to our people, let us honour her wishes.”

“What of the Skaikru?” Indra asked with an inquiring lift of her eyebrow. “Already I have been questioned by their Chancellor about Wanheda’s location.”

Lexa’s eyebrow quirked in mild amusement before she parted her lips to answer wondering what chaos Clarke had left behind in the wake of her leaving. “Klark left the Skaikru for a purpose Indra, for as long as she is no threat and there is no threat I will allow her to wander my forests unheeded, but it may be a… prudent course of action to keep track of her whereabouts.” 

“As you wish Heda.” Indra murmured with a respectful dip of her head.

“Heda,” Titus spoke for the first time in the meeting to draw Lexa’s attention away from her Generals to himself, “I do not believe it is wise to allow Wanheda to live…”

The Commander’s jaw clenched as anger pounded through her veins and her hands tightened around the arms of her throne. “You would question me Titus?” The woman asked, her voice a growl, low and fierce. 

“No Heda…” Titus replied quickly shuffling in his place. “But… Leaving Wanheda alive is weakness Heda.”

“Klark kom Skaikru is no weakness Titus.” Lexa snapped. “The Mountain trembled and fell at her feet. Our greatness and longest enemy vanquished. Weakness could not have done that.” 

“Perhaps Heda,” Titus allowed, “but it is weakness to leave that power where our enemies might snatch it away.” 

“Our enemies Titus?” Lexa drawled slowly letting her eyes roam across the older man’s face. “You presume much Fleimkidon, you might have stood at the side of four Commanders, but you have learned little during that time it seems. It is not your place to question me Titus.”

Titus’s jaw clenched tight before he bowed his head in acceptance, “Sha Heda.”

Lexa held Titus’s eyes for a moment longer before turning her attention back to her Generals. “Gonas of the Coalition, I release you to your duties.” The Commander called out as she rose out of her throne, and strode between the lines of chairs and out of the room, her spine straight and her cloak billowing in her wake.

The booming noise of twelve voices rang out in her wake, “Hail Commander of the Blood!”, echoing through the corridors of the Commander’s Tower.

No one saw the lone tear that trickled down the Commander’s cheek.

**Author's Note:**

> The inspiration for this piece came from a picture set on tumblr, but for the life of me I cannot remember which one and I'm apparently terrible at bookmarking. Then my mind latched onto the fact that the Trigedakru call the warriors abducted by the Mountain Ripas, which comes from Reaper, and this flowed out of that. Plus, in canon, I'm fairly sure we're never told how Lexa came to know that Clarke was Wanheda, and I wanted to cover that somehow.


End file.
